Research
Energy balance
Weight loss of 5% to 10% of initial body weight produces clinically meaningful health benefits and is considered a success.
Aim for a 5-10% reduction in your starting weight. This amount is enough to improve your health markers and is considered a successful outcome by medical professionals.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Weight losses of 5% to 10% of initial body weight produce health benefits and are deemed by many health care practitioners to represent a clinical success.
Why this rating
Based on clinical consensus and practitioner standards cited in the review.
Source
Obesity: Overview of Prevalence, Etiology, and Treatment
Susan B. Racette et al. · Physical Therapy · 2003
DOI 10.1093/ptj/83.3.276
narrative_reviewCited 237×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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